Wedding Rehearsal

This past weekend I traveled to Cleveland for my nephew's wedding.  Justin is my brother Brad's youngest son who on Saturday wed Jennifer on the shore of Lake Erie.  We four siblings — Brad and wife Tish, Bob and his partner David, Joyce, and myself — live in Michigan, Ohio, New York, and Virginia, so we don't get together too often.  However, all four were on hand for our first reunion since my late Aunt Dorothy's 90th birthday celebration.  Alas, Brad's wife Tish was ill and unable to be with us for the wedding.

I arrived about 7:00 Thursday evening, and Brad and I drove over to Justin and Jen's home for dinner.  There we found Justin and brother Scott preparing pork butt and chicken for the rehearsal dinner.  The guys are both accomplished chefs, especially when the food is smoked or grilled.  The pork butt cured in the smoker all night, and Scott spent most of a sweltering Friday grilling chicken.  Scott and Justin also prepared a tasty greens-and-sausage dish to go with the meats.

Late Friday afternoon the wedding party and family gathered at the Lorain County MetroPark beach for the rehearsal.  Brad did a textbook job preparing the couple for their big day.  He clearly has had some experience at this!

Scott (left) and Justin walk down to the rehearsal.

Brad gets the wedding party into "formation" for the service.

Fr. Brother coaches Jen and Justin on doing the vows...

...and when they rehearse the vows, Jen breaks up!

After the rehearsal we walked over to one of the park's open air pavilions and shared an excellent meal with family and many old friends, many of whom flew in for the occasion.  It was a good time to relax and catch up on news!

Scott (left), Justin (center) and mother Rudi (right) look
over photos of out-of-town children.

Jen and Justin thank everyone for attending, and invite
people to help themselves to the food.

The smoked pork and grilled chicken were dynamite!

However, one of the youngest guests decided he'd rather nap!

Next post — the wedding! •••